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Name: Neil London\Kent Border              |
| Due to the problems over the years with my mothers neighbour who has never touched his garden in countless years, I stepped in and slightly wiped his mess up! For English law states anything that is growing over your property from your neighbour, you are allowed to cut down as long as you give the neighbour any trimmings or pruning/logs back. Saves me cleaning his mess up! So at last she can see her little 9 feet border, that was under weeds and debris from his garden. The lavender in there at the moment is past its sell by date, so that is coming out. Then as I grew over 400 'Munstead Wood' lavenders from cuttings last year, I am going to put a new lavender hedge in for my mother and the bees! As 'Munstead Wood' was a Gertrude Jekyll lavender as she lived there, I think my mother will quite like them. They do not grow as big or flop like some lavenders especially 'Hidcote' and take to trimming very well. We shall see, what the weather has for me tomorrow. This is just one bit of the border as there is a standard Hibiscus syriacus 'Bluebird', in the border and a Hydrangea. So I have measured it out hence the holes in the soil (see picture), and it should take 40 plants. I will keep some spare in my nursery containers, in case of any loss. Regards. Neil.   |
Name: Lucy Hamilton, MA (Zone 6b) irises      irisarian Aug 8, 2010 7:32 AM CST |
| May I post this here? Does lavender need a great deal of sun? half day? |
Name: Neil London\Kent Border |
| Dear Lucy. it does like some sun yes! But the most important thing with it is. it does not like wet soil. It likes a dry place with a bit of sun. The more sun the better but it can tolerate half a day easily! The next thing to remember is it cannot grow from old wood; so if you prune it back to old wood it will die. So after it has flowered you trim it back, I use a hedge trimmer on mine, trim it back into this years growth, not last years old stuff. This will keep it in shape and stop it going all leggy as it often does when not trimmed back. Of course most people keep the trimmings for lavender cushions and things, as not only is the smell wonderful, but it is a great natural insecticide! Plus it makes good ice cream! Hope this helps. Regards. Neil. |
Name: Neil London\Kent Border |
| I have finished the Lavender Hedge! Although it may look a bit scruffy it is fine, just got a bit pushed down when I watered them all. They were measured out with a bamboo cane set at exactly 9 inches and the rows were done with one either side at 8 inches. This is because 'Munstead Wood' is a compact lavender, usually for edging borders or making smaller Hedges. So I have done it in three staggered rows, although it does not look like it from the picture! The other side at the top behind the Hydrangea has also been done. These were all taken from cuttings last year, so have not flowered as I cut them back a bit. They have however been grown close together as I do not have the space to grow them in mass rows, they will soon come round now they are in the open, and once they have flowered next year, will be trimmed back again. Regards. Neil.  |
Name: Neil London\Kent Border |
| My mother wanted some of her House plants done, as they desperately needed re-potting. Her Sansevieria or Mother In Laws Tongue was a bit big for the pot and was very difficult to get it out. They are called after the Mother In Law as the sap is poisonous and if you get it on your lips or in your mouth, it makes you dumb or speechless. Mother also has a money tree or Crassula ovata this is way to big for the pot so also had to be done! I did manage to find a pot but in blue, never mind it is for indoors. Another of the many Gardening jobs to do, it never ends. Regards, Neil.   |
Name: Neil London\Kent Border |
| Dear Lucy, look at what the dry weather has done to the clay soil where I was today! Not a nice sight and that is after some rain. Regards. Neil.  |
Name: Lucy Hamilton, MA (Zone 6b) irises irisarian Aug 20, 2010 4:26 AM CST |
| Our soil isn't clay but the drought is making everyone very nervous. I was talking to a member of our iris society & she said that neighbors were complaining about their lawns, after which we both hooted. Gardeners are a strange bunch. However I notice that our daylily foliage is dying back much earlier that usual. I think that it probably won't harm them, but it does make one nervous. |
Name: Neil London\Kent Border |
| Dear Lucy, where I have pricked over the borders with a fork the rain has permeated and does seem to be doing some good. However when I was at Crystal Palace Park on Wednesday some of the grass was awful. The Gardeners are fighting to keep the bedding and the shrub borders alive, and there is no way they could cope with 200 Acres of park to water! The only good thing is the weeds are not growing, as they have no water either! It looks like it is going to rain today which is what we need, but I need to do a lot of hardy Fuchsia cuttings. Oh well it can wait till tomorrow. At least it is helping with my tree ferns as normally in the heat they need watering three times a day, well I don't have to worry much now. Here is a picture underneath some yew trees on Wednesday, look at that soil. Then as I went to go home this is what happened above the BBC transmitter at the top of Crystal Palace, and it poured down. The problem is Lucy when you have soil this dry on a slope the rain just runs straight off it. Regards. Neil.   |
Name: Lucy Hamilton, MA (Zone 6b) irises irisarian Aug 21, 2010 9:42 AM CST |
| True. We could still use some however. I'm afraid that I will lose this spring's iris seedlings if it doesn't rain, in spite of the watering can patrol. That would be 2 yrs in a row. 2009 was too much rain & I think that the seeds rotted. |
Name: Neil London\Kent Border |
| Dear Lucy, that is a shame to say the least. Unfortunately we cannot control the weather, for what is good for one person is not quite what another person wants. It was the Worlds Earth Day today, and that is sad, very sad. They have worked out how much Carbon Dioxide can be pumped into the atmosphere in one year for the world to feed itself, the world passed its yearly limit today and it is August! This means that all the plants in the world cannot take the Carbon Dioxide we and animals put out,and provide oxygen. sad in the space of just over one hundred years the invention of the combustion engine has caused a lot of this. To think 8% of the worlds oil is used to make plastic and only 1% is recycled, what a waste. My wife does have a car, it will do 125 mph but it also does 58 mpg, why do people need these massive petrol guzzling cars. Surely 125 mph is fast enough as the speed limit is 70 mph anyway, does not make any sense to me, but I have always been logical. Hope your Iris seedlings survive. Kindest Regards. Neil. |
Name: Lucy Hamilton, MA (Zone 6b) irises irisarian Aug 21, 2010 9:32 PM CST |
| Thank you, I do too. Some will, but there are few enough in different crosses, that there seems to be no pattern. Of course you know all that about seeds. |
Name: Neil London\Kent Border |
| A job I left to last as I dislike doing it as I always seem to get a difficult one. The problem was my mother had a stump of a cut down Cercis silaquastreum. She is awaiting a delivery of some new plants especially an Australian Bottle Brush or Calistemon citrinus 'Splendens' to finish of the Garden with. So I had to get this stump out, and back fill it ready for planting. That was easier said than done. I managed it in the end and the hole is now back filled awaiting the new plant and some others for the other side of the Garden. Yesterday they announced there may be flash floods, but I took no notice. It has poured down all night and is still going strong. Our little Fire Brigade Station up the road has been busy all night with lots of call outs to rescue people caught in it, and basements flooded out etc. They have been really busy, so it seems like the weather people got it right for once. They have just announced on the Radio that we had the amount of rain we normally get in a month in one night, no wonder the Fire Brigade was busy and still is. Regards. Neil.   |
Name: Lucy Hamilton, MA (Zone 6b) irises irisarian Aug 24, 2010 6:31 PM CST |
| Raining here still, not a heavy rain but off & on showers. Our garden has very sharp drainage in the iris beds away from the house. those closer in have better luck with moisture not running away from them. So my tiny seedlings are in beds which retain more moisture. I will check on them when the rain stops Wed afternoon. I hope they will be happier now. |
Name: Neil London\Kent Border |
| Dear Lucy, I am glad for you as there is nothing worse than losing seedlings. I do hope you get enough rain but not as much as we had when it wrecked a lot of plants! I bet you are most happy? Regards. Neil. |
Name: Lucy Hamilton, MA (Zone 6b) irises irisarian Aug 24, 2010 9:07 PM CST |
| It's cold now, but happy for the rain. the last 2 days have been difficult as I can't go out side to avoid the sound of the giant dentist in the basement. But the weeds better watch out, I am coming. |
Name: Cherie (Cece) Coogan Southeastern WI zone 5a (Zone 5a)  cececoogan Aug 25, 2010 6:20 AM CST |
We emptied and removed Ariana's pool this weekend and this is what we found underneath it..... so this morning this is what I did to it...........  Told hubby it makes a perfect place for another garden bed. Later I will go out and put a couple of trash bags of leaf mulch in between the pots and next spring I can plant it......... I like the east way of doing it.  the faster I go, the behinder I get |
Name: Cherie (Cece) Coogan Southeastern WI zone 5a (Zone 5a) cececoogan Aug 25, 2010 6:49 AM CST |
I added a few more pots, view from front, side back and other side-back   the faster I go, the behinder I get |
Name: Cherie (Cece) Coogan Southeastern WI zone 5a (Zone 5a) cececoogan Aug 25, 2010 6:50 AM CST |
And Ed said he wanted to reseed there. I don't think so  the faster I go, the behinder I get |
Name: Neil London\Kent Border |
| Poor fish! Plus not an Article! Regards. Neil. |
Name: Lucy Hamilton, MA (Zone 6b) irises irisarian Aug 25, 2010 8:27 AM CST |
| ! |
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